R. Djebbar
Institute for Research in Construction, National Research Council, Montreal Road Campus, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1A 0R6
M. K. Kumaran
Institute for Research in Construction, National Research Council, Montreal Road Campus, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1A 0R6
David van Reenen
National Research Council Canada, Institute for Research in Construction, 1200 Montreal Road Building, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0R6 Canada
F. Tariku
Institute for Research in Construction, National Research Council, Montreal Road Campus, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1A 0R6
Using numerical modelling to simulate and predict the hygrothermal (i.e., combined thermal and moisture)
performance of building envelopes is very recent. Key questions include: how to model accurately coupled heatair
and capillary moisture transports in building envelope components; a satisfactory definition of a set of representative environmental boundary conditions to be used for long-term hygrothermal calculations; how to characterize the moisture- and temperature-dependent properties; the effect of aging and cyclic environmental conditions on porous building materials; and how to develop sound criteria to predict the moisture durability of building envelope components. This paper presents the findings of a research project involving detailed hygrothermal modelling. The heat, air and moisture results demonstrated that the in-house model could be adapted successfully for high-rise building calculations. The findings also show how the long-term hygrothermal performance of typical wall systems can be assessed using numerical modelling. A short description of an advanced in-house heat, air and moisture model, hygIRC, is also presented.